Australia has a reptutation for ground based snakes and spiders which would in reality be a hazard, but less than the enemy. So if the idea is to keep the soldiers' heads up in the bush while on patrol, the drop bear might fill the roll.

I have finally found proof that dropbears are real.

Back when I took a vacation in Australia in April 1986, I asked some Aussies if there was any dangerous wildlife I should be aware of. "Not really, as long as you don't stray far from places where people live and work. I imagine in wildlife areas there might be snakes, larger manuals and insects to be careful about. In western areas of America's desert, watch for rattlesnakes if out away from human habitat. No mention of dropbears.

It's a common and perhaps understandable misconception. In Sydney, for example, we have the world's deadliest spider in the Sydney Funnelweb Spider (depending on who you ask) and the world's second-deadliest snake in the Eastern Brown Snake. So it is possible to have animals that are potentially dangerous in a global city like Sydney even though there are no lions, tigers and bears here. To make matters worse, when confronted by humans, both the funnelweb and brown snake are often aggressive and will stand their ground whereas the Inland Taipan, more than 20 times as poisonous as the Eastern Brown, is a very shy snake only found in the Outback and will do what it can to avoid contact with people.

There's very few animals that will kill you here. Certain spiders such as the funnelweb (found in Sydney's northern suburbs), and the redback are killers. Various snakes (brown snake, tiger snake, death adder) are not to be trifled with either.

However the vast majority of wildlife will keep away from humans if they can. Some other animals can injure you, such as the male kangaroo, the platypus, the koala, and the red-bellied black snake, but only if you harass them.

Some flies of summer will bite painfully, drawing blood. Bees won't attack unless you harass or step on them. Wasps will attack if you get too close to their nest. Same applies to certain ant species.

So, it only requires possession of a functional brain to keep safe. Winter is a safer time outdoors than summer.

Don't forget crocodiles, great white sharks, hammerheads, bull sharks (the latter can swim in fresh water), cassowaries, box jellyfish, Irukandji jellyfish and blue ringed octopus.

Most of those things can be found across the world, they are not unique to Oz.

Didn't know about cassowaries, but then again I've never seen one. Never seen a platypus either.

Cassowaries are only in Nth QLD and New Guinea. Crocodiles aren't endemic but ours are just bigger and more bad tempered. It is interesting watching a couple of 6 metre salties fighting over a bloated cow, as if to think that one of them might miss out on a little morsel of the dead prey. The platypus is a recluse and are rarely seen in the wild - whilst not a rare animal they just know how to hide well. The flies you are thinking of a probably horse flies (aka march flies). They have a bite which isn't poisonous but quite annoying.

Here there are at least 4 kinds of biting flies. I don't know the species names.

Large black fly
Large green fly
Round green fly
Tiny fly that looks like a baby housefly and they love biting earlobes.

I am also unfamiliar with them but yes, there'd be a few others that annoy us for the hell of it.

Horse flies are dark grey/black but their eyes have a green tinge, from memory.

Found these links earlier..

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-26/stings-venoms-bites-ranked/103319874

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/03/australias-dangerous-animals-the-top-30/